Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Come on, May!

It's only fair I suppose that April would give me one last little kick in the behind.  


A flat tire in Trader Joe's parking lot.  Thankfully they share a parking lot with Dobbs, who will hopefully have my tire fixed tomorrow.   Tomorrow, May!  Hooray!   

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

There's always tomorrow...


How is it already April 30th tomorrow?! 

 That means only 1 month until summer vacation begins.  There's a part of me that is so excited but there is another part of me that is terrified.  April and May are always challenging with all of the performances, testing and anticipation of transition for the kids. However, if the past 29 days are any indication of what May will bring, challenging sounds like a piece of cake.  I won't lie, my kids, two in particular, have put me through the wringer for the last month.   I'm tired and worn down and I'm scraping the bottom of my bag of tricks.  

I will prevail though.  

  Yesterday at my core group one of my friends suddenly blurted out, "is anybody else about to fall apart, I mean I am one move away from a break down".  Everyone understood and started chiming in.  Boy is it good to be surrounded by honest friends!  Someone even admitted... "I'm so worried, I just hate summer, all the fighting, the boredom, nobody ever wants to do the same thing, they eat so much, I'm always making food, and the cleaning!". 
 This morning I was telling Emma that one of my friends doesn't like summer.  
Emma's response- WHAT?  Why?  
I told Emma all of her reasons. 
 Emma's response-  Were you talking to yourself because that kind of sounds like your summer. 
That made me laugh so hard.  It does kind of sound like my summer but darn it if I don't love it....most days!  
Here's to a May that turns April upside down and shows it who's boss!









Thursday, April 24, 2014

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Priorities and a humble heart

If someone watched you in your every day life for a week and came to a conclusion about your priorities based on your week, would the things they determined to be your priorities actually be the things that you claim to prioritize?

I'm not sure that mine always would.

Part of my problem might be that I'm not as clear with myself as I'd  like to be on what my priorities are, which makes follow thorough a little difficult.

This week I feel convicted about my number one priority, this week my priority is to teach my girls the amazing truths about Jesus.  I want them to be reminded of how much they are loved and what an Awesome God we serve.

Last week as I thought about and planned for Holy Week I decided I would read the Book of Mark aloud to the girls.  Things like that always sound really good in the planning phase.  My plan also includes a sunny morning, birds chirping, chipper kids and a clock that moves very slowly.  But then the reality of Monday morning happens and no matter how prepared we are we're always just a few steps behind.  

Yesterday morning was no different.  It was 8:08, we needed to leave for school in 17 minutes, breakfast was waiting to be cleared and nobody seemed in the mood for reading the Bible.  Forget it, I thought, we don't really have time for this.  I felt tension.  I'd already committed to this reading and what would my choice to clean up the kitchen say about my priorities?
I knew what it said.
The dishes could wait.
I cleared an open spot and called the girls to the island.  Where they promptly argued over who would sit where and accused one another of being annoying.  I began my reading, over Lucy's protests and yells that "Eleanor can sit nowhere, never!! nowhere!  never!!".  The names John and Baptist and Jesus caught her attention and she quieted.  Everyone settled a bit and I read just for a minute or so.    After the reading we talked about John the Baptist's humility and what humility looks like in our own lives.  The girls had nice text book responses.  A few moments later Eleanor, to the very best of my memory said (and here is where I wish I walked around with a tape-record, because honestly you just never know when you'll want to capture something forever)

I think an example of being humble is sharing your gifts with others even when you're not the best.  You know like when you just know that you have a gift but there are lots of other people who do that thing better than you.  Being humble is knowing that no one will think you're the best but still sharing your gift because that's why God gave you that gift, to share it.

And I almost missed that because I wanted to load the dishwasher.  Priorities.



Today Lucy and I had a priority and that was to make Easter cupcakes.  Teddy also has priorities, one is to stay as close as possible to Lucy whenever she has something tasty to eat.




Thursday, April 10, 2014

Today we planted tomatoes


With weather like this you just can't help but feel good.   Our windows are open and we're outside as much as possible.  


Can you find Eleanor in that group?  That's her at track practice last night.   She's loving it and we're loving sitting outside for an hour watching her.    


Like I said, we're all pretty happy.  


Today Lucy and I were feeling the urge to garden.    So we planted some tomato seeds.  We'll see if anything sprouts.  It would be fun to have our own tomato plants to transplant into the garden next month.  

I'm feeling better every day.  Gotta admit Monday was rough.  By the time Kevin got home I wanted to cry.  I told him,  " what's wrong with me?!  I just want to sit down and sob".   He said " It's called exhaustion.  It happens when you run a marathon.  I brought you a gift."  And he handed me a bottle of ZZZQuil.  True love!! I had trouble sleeping Sunday night but not Monday!  I think I was actually even more sore on Tuesday but I didn't feel like crying so I'd call that a better day!  Today I almost feel normal and  I'm itching to run.

One sort of funny thing about my run has been the credibility I've gained with my older girls.   I'm not really sure what they thought I was doing all these months as I trained but I don't think the distance really clicked until Sunday.  It's been pretty cute and has made my heart feel good.  This morning I was saying that I want to try bike riding around Forest Park without Lucy in the carrier, to start building my confidence.  I'd like to go on bike rides with her but I'm nervous.  Emma said "looks like there's nothing you won't try now that you've run a marathon".  :)  

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Marathon


I finished!
A little recap of my concerns....

1.) I've only ever run 20 miles, how is it even possible to run 6.2 miles further?  
Still can't answer this one.  I don't know how I ran 6.2 miles further.  I just said to myself..." 6 miles, well that's just one loop around the park, and then 5 miles- that's not too far, and then 4 miles- well that's an easy day run, and then just a 5K left, and then 2 miles---well I can do this and then 1.2 miles---oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh (sob!!) I'm going to finish"!!!

2.) How am I going to swallow another Goo at mile 20?  During my 20 I was DONE with Goos I mean really DONE and so thankful I didn't have to eat another one.  
I didn't.  For the whole race I took 2 Goos, some jelly beans and quite a few cups of Gatorade and water.  I think it was perfect.

3.) How will I not cry?  
 Too bad, I cried.  A few times.  Never out of exhaustion or pain though.  I cried for joy,  I cried out of gratitude, I cried to see other people struggling and in pain, and I cried for pure delight.

4.) Am I going to be cold in shorts?  Should I wear a throw away tee?  Those are kind of a pain.
Not a bit.  I wore a throw away tee but got rid of it before the race even began.

5.) Did I do enough hills in my training?
Absolutely not.  A few of the hills killed me.  

6.) How am I so blessed to have gotten to do this?  This one is where I wonder about #3 all over again.
I've no idea.  Trust me, a good deal of those 4 hours and 17 minutes of running were spent giving praise and thanks for the goodness in my life which then led to a little sniffling. 

I don't think I could have had a better race experience.  The weather was perfect, I had the best supporters ever and I felt well trained.   After an incredible celebratory brunch I've spent a couple of hours wasting time on FB and the Internet and watching TV.  The kids have brought me snacks and given me leg rubs and we're waiting on a pizza now.  I'm milking this for all I can!

Thanks for your prayers, they made a difference!



Friday, April 4, 2014

Ready

April 6th is nearly here and I'm as ready as I'll ever be for my marathon.  I've trained for months, rested this week and am happily carb loading at every single meal.  So many times this week as I've thought about the marathon my stomach has jumped a little, like when you're on a roller coaster.  I'm equally excited and nervous and it's a pretty good feeling.  Mostly these are the things that I think about that make my stomach drop-

1.) I've only ever run 20 miles, how is it even possible to run 6.2 miles further?  

2.) How am I going to swallow another Goo at mile 20?  During my 20 I was DONE with Goos I mean really DONE and so thankful I didn't have to eat another one.  

3.) How will I not cry?  

4.) Am I going to be cold in shorts?  Should I wear a throw away tee?  Those are kind of a pain.

5.) Did I do enough hills in my training?

6.) How am I so blessed to have gotten to do this?  This one is where I wonder about #3 all over again.


Lucy and I picked up my race packet this morning.  I'm in Corral C, which means I'll cross the start line several minutes after 7.  The pace group I'm hoping to run with is in my corral and that was a big relief!  I'm still going back and forth between running with 4:10 or 4:15.  This is tough decision for me.  When I decided to run this thing I had hoped that I would be able to train really hard and maintain my half marathon PR pace.  That would give me a marathon finish time of 3 hours 45 minutes.  HA!  Thankfully I quickly realized that would never happen and so then I kind of felt like I was just running to run and then winter hit hard and so I was just trying to stay upright in all that snow and ice.  Finally a month or so ago I started thinking about pace again and realized I had no flipping idea what I was going to run this race in.  I think I can finish in 4:15 but I think if I finish in 4 and a half hours, or even 5 hours I couldn't be much happier!  I'm so excited to run this marathon!



-

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Skipping

Another stormy day in St. Louis.  
 Sirens woke us around 5am and we all headed to the basement.  A tornado hit in University City which is not far from our house.  We should actually be in U City right now for Emma's ballet class.  We're not though, we're skipping.  The girls are all tired and there are actually 4 ballet classes Emma can choose from every week, making make ups pretty easy.   Plus we might get another round of bad weather tonight so being at home just feels good.  I'm so thankful that we have so much flexibility in our lives and that home is always our favorite place to be. 

It didn't take everyone very long to get involved in something once we decided we were staying put.







Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Rain and a low key day

It has rained a lot today!   Lucy was at school this morning so I took the opportunity to really clean the first first floor of our house.  I didn't mind spending all morning cleaning,  I've been wanting to do this for months.  I opened lots of windows and the back door and didn't care at all that a little rain was making its way into the house, the sounds and smells made it worth a few indoor rain drops.  As I cleaned I kept a little list of things that need to be done in each room....the list isn't too long and I think I can tackle it all before summer break.    I also made our favorite blueberry muffins for snack, and this Cheater Korean Beef for dinner.  It was recommend by some friends, plus I've made quite a few recipes from this blog so I'm hopeful that it will be a 5 star (as in all 5 of us liking it) winner!  I'm thankful for easy going, rainy days to help me feel clear headed and peaceful.